It’s the penultimate round of Premier League fixtures of the 2019/20 campaign and Arsenal is on the road again, going up against relegation-threatened Aston Villa.
The Gunners will be hoping to make it three-straight wins across all competitions, whereas the Villains, well, they’re staring down the barrel and fighting for top-flight survival.
Good day one and all.
Arsenal put their past failings against both Liverpool and Manchester City behind them with two impressive wins within four days. First beating The Reds 2-1 in the league on Wednesday, then booking their spot in the finals of the FA Cup thanks to a 2-0 victory over City on Saturday night.
With three games left on our calendar the aim now is to maintain that good run, culminating in the Wembley clash against Chelsea to show that the club is indeed heading in the right direction under head-coach Mikel Arteta.
For the Gunners to make European football through the league, well, Crystal Palace is playing in flip-flops so we would need Chelsea to beat Wolves on the final day, as well as us winning our last two games by a few goals. However, if that doesn’t go our way, we have an escape route of winning the FA Cup final to keep the continental hopes in our hands.
Conversely, it has been a very disappointing return to the Premier League for Aston Villa; who with just eight wins from 36 games are 18th in the league table, three points and a 4 goals worse off than 17th-placed Watford.
Dean Smith, however, will feel that avoiding defeat here would give them a real shot at survival going into the final matchday, considering the managerless Hornets have Man City (tonight) and Arsenal still to play.
That said, having lost each of their previous six matches against the Gunners the odds are not looking good for the Villains. So if they are to turn that around, they will need to dig into all of their mental resources and ability tonight.
Team news
Arsenal is likely to go with a similar XI as the one from the Reds game with Cédric Soares, Rob Holding, Bukayo Saka, Lucas Torreira, Reiss Nelson and Sead Kolasinac all expected to start.
Eddie Nketiah also returned from suspension and could lead the attack, while if Mesut Özil has fully recovered from a back problem, may well make his first appearance since the restart.
Prediction
This is a massive game for Villa who will be desperate for all three points, however, with Arsenal determined to finish the season on a high they will not be in a charitable mood. COYG!
— @LaboGoon
Positively Arsenal 
Kavanagh again, clearly Riley liked his performance against Leicester. More of the same son and you’ll go places.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Morning LG,
As you say it will interesting to see the starting eleven, will there be wholesale changes or will Mikel prefer to keep a more consistent side.
He said after the semi that the players were very together and whoever he picked would raise there game and fit into the team.
Its a shame palace have finished the season as finishing above the spuds would be good reward for the whole squad especially if they can add a F.A. cup winners medal to that.
We need to start the game with high intensity and then the goals should come so whatever the personnel COYG.
LikeLike
We Arsenal fans are rather fickle, possibly, somewhat hypocritical.
For years we have been berating all those teams, including some of the so-called better ones, for parking the bus against us and our frequent inability to get through their massed defences.
Now, here we are having done exactly the same to Liverpool and Man$ity and now, all of a sudden, such tactics are wonderful and are a clear indication of a rosy future.
Parking the bus is parking the bus whichever way you look at it and is, in my humble opinion, not something to be particularly proud of.
Just like for so many teams it got them victories and draws which, considering the talent on show, they had no right to expect, so now we find ourselves in a position of doing the same and patting ourselves on the back
It certainly looks like Wengerball is dead and we are going to find ourselves amongst a large group of bus operators, relying on the inability of our opponents to get through our massed ranks rather than our ability to play dazzling football.
Yes I know, our first goal against Man$ity was produced by 18 passes involving 10 players but, as eight of those involved the goalkeeper and only took place a few feet away from the goal-line, that is hardly something to crow about.
I can remember fabulous goals scored after countless passes all over the opponent’s side of the pitch which thrilled us all and everyone who saw them.
It seems that is the past and now all we have to look forward to is the same dreary defensive performances that we have seen in the last week.
Is that not what Emory was trying to do as well?
Ironically, tonight the roles will be reversed, and, as we no longer have the talent playing able to break through a parked bus, I’m not that confident of seeing anything other than a drab and disappointing performance by our not very sparkling attack and non-existent midfield.
You may accuse me of being ungrateful and overly critical but that is how I feel.
LikeLike
JJ.
You still seem very unhappy about Arsenal’s recent results against Liverpool and Mancity and seem frustrated that others don’t share the same opinion.
For me, I’m fuckin ecstatic. I have no proble, accepting that we played an ultra defensive style against Liverpool juggernaut gengepressing that saw them winning the both the Champions and Premier League’s titles. They are quite a few years into their development under Klopp and Arsenal…. six and a bit months under Arteta.
Mancity is another world class outfit and we simply cannot play them both off the park. We can’t. However, the game against City was more complete weren’t doubting ourselves taking them on in midfield.
Part of our success in these games is down to Mikel acknowledging the quality in these teams, thus he had to be pragmatic about the way we approach those games.
Against Villa and Watford I expect us to take on a more attacking approach to impose ourselves on them.
Mikel didn’t even had one transfer window with this team and the deliberate negativity about him is unnessacary. Only Liverpool has lost less games them since his appointment. And it’s fickle and or hypocritical be happy about? Really?
LikeLike
You do you, but don’t get upset if others don’t wallow in self-pity. I’m just as within my right to do me…
LikeLike
jjgsol has a point regarding counter attacking football and will be interesting to see how we decide to setup against a struggling side that will want to deny us space and hit us on the break.
For me it is finding a balance of bus parking and free flowing but i get that if the balance is not right then you will have problems when encountering certain setups.
Wengerball was balanced heavily in the favor of attack which saw us struggle to park the bus, while some park the bus teams suffer the opposite.
LikeLike
I don’t care about that, if he is going to call me “fickle” and “hypocritical” just because I enjoyed our victories I don’t have to take it.
LikeLike
I agree with much of Jigsol’s sentiments in as far as there is little more depressing sight in football than watching, in extremis, ANY José Mourinho side, expensively assembled with flamboyantly creative squads invariably costing close to half a £Billion, being reduced by said Mo to a dreary, stalled, footballing bus.
When you are forced, as a club, to regroup, patch and mend, as Mikel has done, then the first task HAS to be to make your side hard/impossible to beat. That he appears to be a long way down this particular road is hugely to his credit; that he is WINNING against two of the most successful sides of the day is the understandable cause of much of the evident recent excitement, in my view.
If Arsenal can pick themselves up to beat lowly Villa – a side likely to be scrapping for their very survival, that too would be cause to celebrate.
We are where we are and none of us here are exactly delighted with the club’s decline. But the fight back has to start somewhere and I think we all need to get behind the club as far as we possibly can.
But then I would say that, wouldn’t I?
LikeLiked by 2 people
I can see where jigsol coming from , and have wrestled with and hated bus parking so much over years, but must admit I loved the City game and wholeheartedly approve of what we did.
A lot of that comes from pure emotion, but I think there’s some intellectual, logical, etc justification for it.
First up, though I suppose this is emotional again, there is no joy for me in being open against superior or even not superior team (and killed on counters) and getting pumped. Zero.
Second, it’s early. We clearly need to rebuild.
LikeLike
Third, we currently have every reason to believe Arteta’s pragmatism is aligned with desire to play good football. With more time/work and perhaps better players, we’ll play more. Although first half we played lot of good stuff after 10 mins.
Fourth, it’s City, fuck them. All bets off in obligations to beautiful game when playing those bums.
Lastly, we did it without dirt, which is highly unusual for team taking on the role we did. When did teams ever park bus against us without being highly cynical and dirty? Typically, it’s a near guarantee that undergo outfit uses dirt as part of strategy- fouls of every type, time-wasting, diving, etc. I saw almost none of that from us
LikeLike
I do regret forfeiting much of right to be pissed off at bus parkers though, admittedly.
The dream died for me seeing how we weren’t given the proper chance to do it the other way. No one would stand a better chance of doing it that way than Wenger. Peppi Longwallet would never take it on.
We tried for a long time that way and I believe with a cleaner game may have achieved truly amazing things, a beautiful story for the ages. As it was, still did remarkably well to qualify for CL for so long, with great values to fore, some great moments, inspirational commitment and resilience from the big man. Beautiful still, but darker than should have been.
But the game is not clean here. A more pragmatic approach definitely brings with it at least a little more protection from being fucked over. We need that.
LikeLike
Needs must I suppose, but I’m not a fan of Bus parking. However, I’m convinced Arteta isn’t either and that he can effectively do it is testament to his coaching ability.
LikeLike
Rich @ 3:17pm
And for me I don’t even see “parking the bus” as part of Arteta’s philosophy. On most of our other games he clearly wanted us to play a more expensive brand of football. Against Liverpool he rested quite a few first teamers after a hectic schedule, for the FA Cup game. Against Mancity he went in with open eyes acknowledging their quality, and here’s his remarks before the game:
“Like any other team, they have some weaknesses […] and as well, it’s about stopping their strengths, which they have a lot of. This is part of any game plan, it’s not about City or any other opponent that we’re facing, and tomorrow we will do exactly the same.”
In my opinion it would be unfair to conclude from that he is no different than Emery and his respect-ball.
LikeLike
I can’t see any hypocrisy. I can’t remember anyone criticising small teams for parking the bus, the criticism came when, as AA eluded, the money teams were doing it. If you have a rich owner and you still park the bus you must be a shit manager no matter how much success you get.
The only time we had a go at the smaller teams were if they just kicked us off the park which is just not cricket or football for that matter.
The only other thing I hated the likes of stoke for was the long throw which there again is something I think should be outlawed.
Anyone who watched the GG era and then see the club transcend into a thing of beauty reminiscent of the boys from 70s Brazil or the total football of the Dutch sides will not want us to go back to dull football but every now and then in the odd game it is necessary.
LikeLike
Labo, didn’t see Pool so can only got on stats and reaction (and result!) but against City I really liked how we played first half from just before we scored to half time. Really felt another goal seemed out there for us, and there was plenty of football played.
2nd half was for most part much more like true bus parking, but as another poster mentioned, without the fouling that normally comes with it, nor the time wasting. When we get done by those teams they often take about 25 seconds for a throw in, best part of minute for corners and many free kicks. Excruciating, bullshit stuff which a ref should never permit.
LikeLike
I thought Spurs game gave a pretty accurate picture of where we are and what intentions are. Until things turned to shit score-wise I was mentally preparing to say something on here along lines of ‘and you shall know a team by its centre midfield’.
I did try defend our centre two afterwards from what I took to be unfair cricticism, but obviously not with gusto et al I’d have had if we won.
I thought contrast was stark with them, with our two looking inventive, passing and receiving well, showing a desire to shape, be creative, play or whatever you want to call it. While they were living to spoil and pounce on turnovers and gaps.
LikeLike
No doubt though, the scoreline, in victory and defeat, does have an enormous impact on how you view the game, even for those who try to put up some fight against it.
I’ve seen one die hard, travel globe for decades supporter on twitter go from direst proclamations of where we stand after Spurs to joy and jubilation after City when, really, it’s all of a piece. Spurs could easily have gone our way and the other two against, but I do think the two latter results signify something real in terms of how we can compete in big games under Arteta. Have a feeling the City game at start of restart is only one under him where we’ve lost by more than a goal?
LikeLike
I genuinely think we outplayed City. I mean, reducing them to one shot on target is nothing to scoff at.
And the fact that Sterling was so ineffective is hugely because of the pressure we had them under – something pretty unusual to them. We could have so easily gone 3 goals up into the break; Auba’s first shot either side of Ederson and then later in the half he caught in two minds and his feet couldn’t quite connect with his brain when he tried to lay it up instead of shooting himself.
And we also build our play from deep in the first half, which could give the impression that we parked the bus. In the second half City threw everything it us also.
Liverpool got 97 pts (?) last season right, and are on course to get 99 pts now. Even in our best seasons we never got close to get.
LikeLike
Against Spurs we scored first and then gift them two goals. They defend deep.
Against Liverpool they scored first and gift us two goals. We defended deep.
The narrative afterwards was that Spurs deserved their victory, yet Liverpool was unlucky to lose to us.
LikeLike
labo i fear we have seen the last of Mesut Ozil, the comments by Arteta yesterday did not encourage me, and if we don’t see him again this season, we might not see him in an AFC shirt again.
Cedric and Nketiah are back in contention for place in the team/squad, Mustafi looks to be out, so even if Matt Smith drops out of the match day 20 we are still unlikely to see ozil.
LikeLike
Jigsol at 1:43
Though it’s early days but the way we won against Liverpool and City with park the bus style it is a bit of shame for a club like Arsenal famous for it’s trademark attacking style of football.
How could one justify Park the bus style we accused Pulis & Allerdyce when they adopted against us. It doesn’t justify. Wenger would never play such football even against Bayern or Barca even knowing they were superior teams than us. Hope Arteta do not take us to George Graham days.
LikeLike
Ro… I doubt many accused either Pulis or Big Sam of parking the bus, because quite that is what one come to expect of them. José for all of his financial recourses where he have been would roundly get mocked for adopting such a style against all comers, even lesser teams. Again, no accusations.
A cynical person would point out Arsenal’s poor overall record against both Barça and Bayern. But eh… at least we lost in style.
LikeLike
Referee: Chris Kavanagh. Assistants: Daniel Cook, Sian Massey-Ellis. Fourth official: Graham Scott. Replacement official: Matt Jones. VAR: Craig Pawson. Assistant VAR: Mark Scholes.
LikeLike
no ozil again
Arsenal
@Arsenal
·
1m
Team: Emi, Rob, Dav, Kol, Ced, Ceb, Tor, Sak, Lac, Ed, Auba. Sub: Macey, Hec, KT, Sok, AMN, Joe, Xhak, Smith, Pepe
LikeLike
Kavanagh and Pawson bad bad vibes Leicester anyone? Riley really needs retiring. Preferably in the way they do lame race horses
LikeLike
Simon Collings
@sr_collings
·
2m
Plane just flown over Villa Park.
Banner read: “Back Arteta Kroenke Out”
LikeLike
now that is some shite defending, the villa scorer totally unmarked at a corner
LikeLike
Back to bad old ways! Need to wake up a little in this game
LikeLike
Absolute shite.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Arsenal’s fans really are their worst enemy. Come into this game on a high and what a shot of confidence that banner must have been. We really don’t deserve good things. Nada!
LikeLiked by 1 person
HT: Villa 1-0 Arsenal
we’ve had 3 shots, none on target, yeah we are better off without Ozil in the squad
awful defending for their goal, scorer was totally unmarked eight yards out at a corner
LikeLike
Why was Grealish’s foul on Laca not a pen? He clearly brings Laca down without getting anywhere near the ball.
Torreira got a yellow for not touching the a villa player.
Sad to see Ozil not playing in have like this. Passing is off. We need to speed it up.
LikeLike
We seem a bit slow; or is it a little uncoordinated?
Something is just not linking or clicking… plenty of improvement ahead…
Dare I say, casual? I dont even think we are being casual…
LikeLike
xhaka on for torreira
LikeLike
much more life to us so far this half
LikeLike
Aubameyang really should have done better with that chance
LikeLike
Tierney and Pepe on for David Luiz and Saka, about an hour gone
LikeLike
Nketiah header from a corner hits the post and lands in the keepers arms
LikeLike
willock on for cedric
LikeLike
we have been so sloooowwwww
LikeLike
4 minutes left to save this game, not looking likely at all
LikeLike
FT: Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal
we got exactly what that shit performance warranted,
woeful defending for their goal
Arteta said yesterday that the players had these last two league games to show they deserved a place in the starting 11 for the cup final, well going on today’s performance not one of them has played their way into that starting 11,
don’t anyone tell me that this team and squad is better off with ozil sat at home, we create sweet fuck all
only plus side is that if we win on Sunday we relegate Watford and troy deeney, but if we play like today we won’t win.
LikeLike
Rather disappointing….
LikeLike
With everything that went on, including Villa’s goal, we still had more than enough chances to win that game. Poor finishing once again letting us down.
On the bright side, we can now relegate Watford at the Emirates this weekend.
LikeLike
we had 69% possession but only had 4 shots, with none on target, Ozil sat at home in the hope that he gets bored enough to leave the club. The thing is Aubameyang is more likely to get bored of this awful lack of chances and look to leave.
LikeLike
So we need to win the FA Cup to get Europe, and we finish below Tottenham again. Very very poor.. but like death and taxes, if there is a completely useless bottom dwelling team who needs a helping hand, you can, these days, always rely on Dr Arsenal to come along with the medicine they need..the teams we have lost to this season really do not make impressive reading, nor will the teams we finish below, don’t know about Kroenke, but people running the club in London should be on the naughty step, whatever happens with Chelsea.
Raul should be forced to present to SK exactly how the club will end up Finishing below Wolves, quite possibly a newly promoted side , a team managed by Dyche , all after after a big spend last summer , and the disastrous decision to allow emery to hang on well past his welcome. With most self respecting clubs with ambition , you would expect Raul to be fired,
We used to blow these teams away with ease, Arteta needs to bring that back Next season
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, so much for how wonderful we are at beating Liverpool and Man$ity.
I am pleased I only had to sit through 30 minutes of that.
I think to say that it was rubbish would be complimentary.
Once again we see that we have no one to pass the ball in the final third.
I won’t even dare to mention the unmentionable one but really, do you think we could beat Barnet reserves, let alone Chel$ki.
All that passing around and not one single incisive pass into space.
They might as well give Chel$ki the cup now and relieve us of the embarrassment of having to play them if this is all we can do.
Maybe it was deliberate in order to lull Chel$ki into a false sense of security.
One shot on target against Aston Villa, really.
LikeLike
well Mandy there is nothing we’ve done under Arteta to suggest we will blow anyone away any time soon, we are not swashbuckling, not even when trying to salvage a game, there is no charge of the lightbrigade
LikeLike
If he doesn’t start blowing them away Eduardo, he won’t survive next season, the fans now know they can force Kroenkes hand if they go off a manager. Results against the top teams are great, but beating villa, Watford, Brighton, Southampton, Palace and others and others of that ilk should not be so difficult as it now seems for this club.
Unless there are mitigating factors, a few of that lot should be dropped against Watford in a warning for the big game.
I dont think Ozil would have done any worse than that lot this evening, whatever the issue is with him. Seems pretty clear they want him out for whatever reason.
I don’t know what defines non negotiable for Arteta, but quite a lot of them seemed to go into what should be that territory in this game
LikeLike
Arsenal can now finish no higher than 8th and no lower than 10th in the EPL this season
LikeLike